Little House?

Piles of stuff litter the curbs. Some of it's trash; some things waiting to be loaded into waiting cars and trucks. As people pack up their apartments and depart for places unknown, I'm drawn into thinking about my stuff and what the curb and car will look like when I leave. The idea of living simply has been nagging at me since I had two friends depart for distant places and for long periods with just a suitcase or two, and then I saw this video...




Growing up in California, I dreamed of big houses. I dreamed of big farm houses, sprawling ranches, colonials, victorians, craftsmans and haciendas. The house would be filled with children and clever storage ideas. The house I grew up in was only 1090 sqft but it felt enormous at age six. By age 16, that feeling had faded. The idea of having my own room and my own space held great allure. I designed houses for large families in which two children in a room was the exception and the rooms were spacious enough that it wouldn't matter.

The last couple of years, I've spent time in some large houses. Enough time to see the drawbacks of lots of space. Momentary moments of panic when a child goes missing and it takes you longer to search the inside of the house than it would to run around the house twice. More space means more things. Being alone in a huge house and having the alarm tell you that there was movement in a distant quarter of the house. In my family's house, you have to be an excellent hider to be lost for very long. We constantly bump into each other.

There's a large part of me that want to have a little homestead of my own with a little house built by me. I think I read too many frontier themed books growing up. ;) The idea of a little house like the video appeals to me. Of course, I would want a shower of some kind (maybe outdoors?) and I would want space for my books. Instead of designing large houses, I now dream in miniature. Which is better since it's more probable that anywhere I live will be small. There's another part of me that just wants the suburban life I grew up with. American dream much? Although, I'd like to add some goats to the mix of suburban animals...

When I signed the lease for my apartment, the list of permissible animals included birds. Dangerous thing to tell a former 4-Her. I was tempted to ask if that included chickens but realized that would scare my roommates since we were all signing together. A couple small banties to round out my balcony maybe?